  
Major Events Last Week
Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities – Annual meeting held last week
The Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities (CCD), the coalition of over 100 national disability organizations, held its annual meeting on January 9. The coalition elected its leadership and made recommendations for the organization of its task forces for 2013. The Arc’s TJ Sutcliffe was elected to the CCD Board of Directors and Marty Ford ended her tenure as the Immediate Past Chairperson. In addition, The Arc staff volunteered to take on leadership roles in ten task forces (education, employment & training, financial security, fiscal, health, housing, long term services and supports, rights, Social Security, and the ad hoc autism and developmental disabilities task force). The event also included panel discussions with Hill staff from the offices of Senator Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Senators Tom Harkin (D-IA) (Chair of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee) and Orrin Hatch (R-UT) (Ranking Member of the Finance Committee). The day also featured a panel discussion celebrating the coalition’s 40 year history, including key founders such as Paul Marchand who served in The Arc’s public policy office for 38 years. Learn more at: http://c-c-d.org/
Announcements
Capitol Insider Schedule
Due to the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day holiday and the Inauguration this coming weekend, Capitol Insider will not be sent out next week, returning to normal weekly emails on Monday, January 28, 2013. If there is any breaking news out of DC, we will be sending you action alerts. You can also stay up to date by checking the Capitol Insider blog and The Arc’s blog.
Participate in the National Day of Service, Saturday, January 19th
Continuing a tradition the First Family started four years ago, Inauguration weekend will begin with a National Day of Service on Saturday, January 19th that honors the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Volunteers from across the country are organizing service events in all fifty states, and the Presidential Inaugural Committee will be hosting a major service fair on the National Mall. Join an event near you. Help spread the word about your service by using the hashtag #iserve and share your experience on Facebook.
Medicare/Medicaid – New survey on Access to Assistive Devices under Medicare
The Independence through Enhancement of Medicare and Medicaid Coalition (ITEM) is surveying people with disabilities and chronic conditions to assess whether they are experiencing problems with accessing the devices they need to function independently in everyday life. Specifically, they are interested in hearing from medical device and assistive technology users who live in areas where Medicare has implemented a selective provider contracting program known as the DME Competitive Bidding Program. They would like to find out how access to devices and services is being impacted.
Please respond to the survey if you are a Medicare beneficiary who uses a device to remain independent, and please share the survey with other Medicare beneficiaries, either directly or through providers. All beneficiaries who use assistive devices are encouraged to respond, even if they live outside of a bidding area.
Any information shared about the identity of the respondents will be kept strictly confidential, and only shared with the respondent’s permission. |
